Raider Nation Origin Stories: Meet Baron Davis, former NBA All-Star and Los Angeles native

May 06, 2025 at 11:26 AM

Levi Edwards

Digital Team Reporter

As Baron Davis walked into the Raiders facility with his sons, the two-time NBA All-Star didn't wear his accomplishments on his sleeve.

He was simply a giddy fan.

Davis still remembers his hometown Los Angeles Raiders winning Super Bowl XVIII in 1984 when he was turning 5 years old. He even mentioned football being his first love as a sport before "basketball took over" in his adolescence. Growing up, his Pop Warner football coach as well as his family were die-hard Raiders fans, making the brand even more visible to him.

While the team relocated back to Oakland years later, he was already immersed in a culture he'd follow for the rest of his life.

"They meant everything. The Raiders were the melting pot and the hub of the city," Davis told Raiders.com. "Where you have diverse crowds and this diversity that existed in L.A., but never had any real connectivity or camaraderie. And when we had the Raiders, you had that sense of community and pride and fandom that allowed everybody to put their guard down at a Raider game."

As he walked through the Raiders weight room, he stopped to chat with a few players. Davis is no stranger to putting in the work to reach elite athleticism as a 1999 NBA first-round pick out of UCLA. Over his 13-year career, he averaged 16.1 points and 7.2 assists per game.

He'll always be known for leading the 2007 "We Believe" Golden State Warriors to one of the largest upsets in the history of the NBA playoffs over the top seeded Dallas Mavericks – who went 67-15 with NBA MVP Dirk Nowitzki. Davis averaged 25 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists in that six-game series, and the Warriors became just the third team to knock off the No. 1 seed as the eight seed.

He joked that his fandom for the Silver and Black intensified in his college years because of his teammate Earl Watson, who also played 13 seasons in the NBA. Watson, a Kansas City, Kansas native, is a passionate Chiefs fan who would always give Davis grief about the Raiders. This included Watson accusing Davis of being a fair weather fan after wearing a John Elway jersey around campus.

"I told him I was just wearing Denver because I like Elway," Davis recounted. "After [Elway] won the Super Bowl [in 1998] I said, 'I'm never wearing another jersey again. I'm only wearing Raiders.' And he was like, 'You've got to pick a lane' and I said, 'Raiders for sure.'"

"It's Al Davis, it's Charles Woodson, it's Ronnie Lott, Marcus Allen," he added on his favorite Raiders players he's watched. "I became tight with Marcus Allen, he became a mentor. Ronnie Lott became a mentor."

As Davis made his way to the outdoor practice fields, Maxx Crosby – who just so happens to be Davis' sons' favorite Raider – made a special appearance. Davis, his children and Crosby tossed around a football with each other and talked for a few minutes on the field about basketball.

His tour ended quite fittingly, heading back inside to the indoor practice field where a basketball hoop sits off to the side for players and coaches to shoot around on.

Players in passing watched in awe as one of their childhood sports heroes knocked down multiple 30-foot jumpers with ease. Several of them approached Davis for pictures, with the All-Star obliging with great humility.

"Let's just put it like this," he said, "there's not a Raider that I don't love."

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Las Vegas Raiders punter AJ Cole (6) and kicker Daniel Carlson (8) at a workout during phase two of the offseason program at Intermountain Health Performance Center.